Try working a few of these terms into your everyday conversations and see what kind of response you get from friends. (If they start thinking you are a bit daft, please don’t blame me. I only work here ... Besides — stirring up trouble can be fun, and is one of the things I do best!)

If these words sound like something out of a sword and fantasy tale, you’d be close — but not quite there. These are all invented terms describing things one can find in a typical comic strip. Turn to today’s comics page and you’ll probably spot at least several, even if you don’t know their “names.”

Grawlixes, for example, are the typographical symbols run together in random fashion in a dialogue balloon to simulate profane speech. Hites are horizontal straight lines trailing after a character or object to indicate moving with great speed, like Dagwood running over the postman to get to work on time. Plewds are flying sweat droplets that show the character is worried, nervous or working hard. Solrads are the radiating lines coming from a candle, lightbulb or the sun, which indicate brightly illuminating rays.

I won’t bother you with the rest of the definitions, but if you’re curious, you can probably poke around on the Internet and come up with them. They are all listed in a book by Mort Walker, the fellow who came up with Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, and several other successful cartoon strips. His “The Lexicon of Comicana,” published in 1980, contained all these “symbolia” we’ve come across at one time or another on the comics page.

So throw in a few of these into your daily conversations and who knows, you might become known as the “William F. Buckley” of your neighborhood or, perhaps, the Village Idiot. Who knows? In life, we always take our chances!

LONE RANGER: Ocala’s Glynda Jinright wrote: “I just had to write a comment in response to your review of ‘The Lone Ranger.’ My husband and I went last week and were thoroughly entertained. I had no preconceived notions about the movie. I knew it would be quite ‘different’ since Johnny Depp starred in it. It was so good to laugh ourselves silly at some of the punch lines. No remake in 2013 of one of the old classics will be like we remember as a kid. I wasn’t familiar with Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger), but am a big fan of Johnny Depp. His portrayal of Tonto is full of gags, spoofs and snide remarks. I loved it. The horse, Silver, is one of the most beautiful animals I’ve seen. Glad you liked it as much as we did.”

Ralph Riker, Silver Springs, wrote: “I also saw that Lone Ranger movie and thought it was very funny, but the funniest part, to me, was the last 15-20 minutes. It was more than a knee-slapper. It was rolling-in-the-aisles funny. I don’t think a live person could do all those tricks. There must have been computers involved.”

Tom Architetto, Ocala, wrote: “This is my first ever email to you after all these years. I had to tell you I loved the new Lone Ranger, and especially the new and improved Tonto. I am pretty sure I know what Tonto said in response to ‘Hi-Yo Silver! Away’… he said ‘dumb horse,’ correct?

“Now one back at you; do you remember the meaning of Kemosabe?”

ONGOING TALE: Last Tuesday we kicked off a new 10-installment story completely written by readers of this column. You can read last week’s opening installment online at ocala.com. Just type my name into the search box and a list of my columns should pop up. This week, the story continues with this submission by Mollie Richards, Ocala.

* * * * *

Janie ripped the cardboard sign that displayed the message off her front door. She glanced down the street, hoping none of the neighbors had seen it in the dawning light. As she entered the house, her heart was pounding and her stomach churning with fear.

“Someone knows,” Janie whispered to herself.

Reluctantly, she forced herself to get ready for work. It had been difficult going to the office this week, acting like everything was ‘normal.’ Now she needed to call the attorney to tell him about his horse statue.

Arriving at work, Janie wondered, “Which co-worker knows my secret?”

* * * * *

OK, readers, who will come up with the next installment? Send your 100-word (or less) submission to the email address below. Put “STORY” in the subject line, please.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you have a special place here in Beautiful Marion County where you like to go to get away from it all?

Send comments to slyguy73@gmail.com and include your FULL name and town. This column appears each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and online at ocala.com.

<p>American English is a veritable treasure trove of technical terms and almost unpronounceable gibberish, some might say, but it has its fun side, too, for those who will but take notice.</p><p>For example, do you know what agitrons are? How about blurgits, swalloops or briffits?</p><p>Never heard of those? Then what about dites, hites and vites; emanata, or something you probably see regularly — grawlixes?</p><p>While trying to identify those terms, how about also considering indotherm, wateron and lucaflect.</p><p>If those aren't challenging enough, you might take on plewds, solrads, squeans, whiteope, sphericasia, spurls, oculama, crottles, farkles, doozes, staggeration, boozex, digitrons, nittles, quimp and jarns.</p><p>Try working a few of these terms into your everyday conversations and see what kind of response you get from friends. (If they start thinking you are a bit daft, please don't blame me. I only work here ... Besides — stirring up trouble can be fun, and is one of the things I do best!)</p><p>If these words sound like something out of a sword and fantasy tale, you'd be close — but not quite there. These are all invented terms describing things one can find in a typical comic strip. Turn to today's comics page and you'll probably spot at least several, even if you don't know their “names.”</p><p>Grawlixes, for example, are the typographical symbols run together in random fashion in a dialogue balloon to simulate profane speech. Hites are horizontal straight lines trailing after a character or object to indicate moving with great speed, like Dagwood running over the postman to get to work on time. Plewds are flying sweat droplets that show the character is worried, nervous or working hard. Solrads are the radiating lines coming from a candle, lightbulb or the sun, which indicate brightly illuminating rays.</p><p>I won't bother you with the rest of the definitions, but if you're curious, you can probably poke around on the Internet and come up with them. They are all listed in a book by Mort Walker, the fellow who came up with Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, and several other successful cartoon strips. His “The Lexicon of Comicana,” published in 1980, contained all these “symbolia” we've come across at one time or another on the comics page.</p><p>So throw in a few of these into your daily conversations and who knows, you might become known as the “William F. Buckley” of your neighborhood or, perhaps, the Village Idiot. Who knows? In life, we always take our chances!</p><p><b>LONE RANGER</b>: Ocala's <b>Glynda Jinright</b> wrote: “I just had to write a comment in response to your review of 'The Lone Ranger.' My husband and I went last week and were thoroughly entertained. I had no preconceived notions about the movie. I knew it would be quite 'different' since Johnny Depp starred in it. It was so good to laugh ourselves silly at some of the punch lines. No remake in 2013 of one of the old classics will be like we remember as a kid. I wasn't familiar with Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger), but am a big fan of Johnny Depp. His portrayal of Tonto is full of gags, spoofs and snide remarks. I loved it. The horse, Silver, is one of the most beautiful animals I've seen. Glad you liked it as much as we did.”</p><p><b>Ralph Riker</b>, Silver Springs, wrote: “I also saw that Lone Ranger movie and thought it was very funny, but the funniest part, to me, was the last 15-20 minutes. It was more than a knee-slapper. It was rolling-in-the-aisles funny. I don't think a live person could do all those tricks. There must have been computers involved.”</p><p><b>Tom Architetto</b>, Ocala, wrote: “This is my first ever email to you after all these years. I had to tell you I loved the new Lone Ranger, and especially the new and improved Tonto. I am pretty sure I know what Tonto said in response to 'Hi-Yo Silver! Away'… he said 'dumb horse,' correct?</p><p>“Now one back at you; do you remember the meaning of Kemosabe?”</p><p><b>ONGOING TALE</b>: Last Tuesday we kicked off a new 10-installment story completely written by readers of this column. You can read last week's opening installment online at ocala.com. Just type my name into the search box and a list of my columns should pop up. This week, the story continues with this submission by <b>Mollie Richards</b>, Ocala.</p><p>* * * * *</p><p>Janie ripped the cardboard sign that displayed the message off her front door. She glanced down the street, hoping none of the neighbors had seen it in the dawning light. As she entered the house, her heart was pounding and her stomach churning with fear.</p><p>“Someone knows,” Janie whispered to herself.</p><p>Reluctantly, she forced herself to get ready for work. It had been difficult going to the office this week, acting like everything was 'normal.' Now she needed to call the attorney to tell him about his horse statue.</p><p>Arriving at work, Janie wondered, “Which co-worker knows my secret?”</p><p>* * * * *</p><p>OK, readers, who will come up with the next installment? Send your 100-word (or less) submission to the email address below. Put “STORY” in the subject line, please.</p><p><b>QUESTION OF THE DAY</b>: Do you have a special place here in Beautiful Marion County where you like to go to get away from it all?</p><p><i>Send comments to slyguy73@gmail.com and include your FULL name and town. This column appears each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and online at ocala.com. </i></p>